What You Need To Know About Breast Cancer

What You Need to Know About Bre@st Cancer to Improve Your Odds

October is National Bre@st Cancer Awareness Month, so I'm focusingthis issue on some of the things that we know about bre@st cancer.

Are You At Risk?

Specific factors that can put you at risk for bre@st cancer include:

1. Having a close relative who has had bre@st cancer2. Having your first child in your thirties, or later3. Not having children4. Early menstrual cycles (before age twelve)5. Being African American6. Diet, as discussed below7. Antibiotic use - a new study found that antibiotic users hada 50% higher risk of bre@st cancer and the higher the use, thehigher the risk. Researchers believe that the antibioticuse was due to chronic inflammation, which was linked to cancerand heart disease.

Diet and weight are starting to appear as major risk factors forbre@st cancer. Here are some of the facts that we know aboutthe correlation of diet and weight with bre@st cancer.

* Obese women, in other words, those with a Body Mass Index of30 or more (calculate your BMI at http://nhlbisupport.com/bmi/),face two-to-four times the risk of bre@st cancer (and endometrialcancer). The fat found around the abdomen, in apple-shaped women,seems to be more reactive, leading to faster cell growth,including growth of cancerous cells.

* Research by the American Cancer Society shows that postmenopausalwomen who had gained 21-30 pounds over their weight at age 18were at a 40% greater risk of getting bre@st cancer than thosewho had only gained 5 pounds or less. It's thought that bre@stcancer risk increases due to the excess fat tissue increasingthe body's estrogen levels.

* A study of women in Mexico who consumed high-carbohydrate diets(especially high in corn products) found that they were twice aslikely to get bre@st cancer. Researchers theorize that thecarbohydrates raise blood sugar and provide an environmentfavorable for replication of cancer cells. Women in the study whoconsumed more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, all of whichcontain insoluble fiber, had far less bre@st cancer risk, leadingto speculation that diets higher in insoluble fiber put women atless risk of bre@st cancer. American women typically consume dietsthat are much lower in carbohydrates than the women studied.

What about Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)? Is it a risk factor?We don't really know. Until fairly recently, doctors prescribedHRT for protection against heart disease, colon cancer, andosteoporosis, especially if you had a family history of those.The downside was an increased risk of bre@st cancer. However,the US Women's Health Initiative studies found no protective effectfor the heart from HRT, and in the estrogen-only study there wasno bre@st cancer risk increase. However, scientists in Scandinaviacalled off their HRT study among women who had alreadyexperienced bre@st cancer due to the high risk of bre@st cancerrecurrence among study participants. We just don't know, butfor now, HRT may be OK for short-term symptom relief, butis not a long-term strategy.

Getting Checked Out

Talk with your doctor about whether you have a family historyof bre@st cancer. If you have had one, or more, female relative(s)with bre@st cancer, you need to be on a more frequent andaggressive screening program and you may even want to considergenetic testing for you and other family members.

How frequently to do mammograms is a subject of some debate,but here are some facts that may help.

* For women over age fifty, having a mammogram annually saveslives due to a 30% reduction in death rates from bre@st cancer.For women in their forties, the reduction is 16%-18%.
* The American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Instituterecommend starting to have mammograms at age 40, and to havethem every one–two years thereafter.
* Mammograms aren't as accurate for pre-menopausal women becausetheir bre@st tissue is denser, resulting in a higher rate of falsepositives. For example, 97% of women in their forties who underwentsurgical biopsies resulting from the findings on their mammogramsdidn't actually have bre@st cancer.

This year, October 15 is National Mammography Day, and throughoutthe month many facilities will give free or reduced-price mammograms.

Managing Your Risk

What are some things that you can do to manage your risk ofbre@st cancer?
* Get moderate levels of exercise (30-60 minutes per day), whichhas been shown to reduce bre@st cancer in post-menopausal women,and is good for all of us. (It reduces your risk of heart diseaseand stroke, too.)
* Control your weight and manage your diet. Focus on fruits,vegetables, and whole grains, to get insoluble fiber, and maintaina diet lower in fats and carbohydrates. A couple of specificfood examples include:
- Flavones, found in some fruits and vegetables, such as celery,lettuce, peppers, spinach, chili pepper, lemon, and parsley,protect against bre@st cancer; for each 0.5 gram per day consumed,bre@st cancer risk decreases by 13%.
- Lignins, found in ground flaxseed (a whole grain containing healthyOmega-3 fatty acids), appear to reduce the incidence of bre@stcancer.
* If you're on a statin drug (Lipitor, Zocor, Crestor, Pravachol,or others) for controlling your cholesterol, that appears to alsoreduce the risk of bre@st cancer (and colon cancer) by easinginflammation (as measured by a test called C-Reactive Protein).
Bottom line: Diet and exercise can reduce your risk of bre@stcancer. If you're dieting and exercising, but not losing weight,consider whether you're under a lot of stress. Stress can negatethe impact of diet and exercise, so managing that stress may helpyou lose that excess weight, and be the third pillar in yourstrategy to avoid bre@st cancer.


Mellanie True Hills (http://www.mellaniehills.com), the Health& Productivity Revitalizer, works with individuals andorganizations that want to be healthier and more productive.She is the author of 'A Woman's Guide to Saving Her Own Life:The HEART Program for Health & Longevity.' Read the first twochapters online athttp://www.mellaniehills.com/bookawgexcerpt.htm

Vitamin A - The Glow-in-the-dark Vitamin

Vitamin A - The Glow-in-the-dark Vitamin

By David Leonhardt

The ancient Egyptians had a cure for "night blindness". They fed the patient lots and lots of liver. Perhaps they thought theywere appeasing the Gods of sight. In 1930, the first fat-solublevitamin was discovered - vitamin A - which, it turns out, doesindeed appease the Gods of sight.

Vitamin A is best known for improving eyesight, particularly atnight, which is one of two reasons we call it the glow-in-the-dark vitamin. But the eyes are not the only part of your bodygrateful for your generous consumption of vitamin A.

Your skin also benefits. And your hair. And mucous membranes.And nails. In fact, almost any surface lining your body canfind.

Your immune system benefits, too, giving you added resources toward off infections. Bones and teeth are strengthened withproper amounts of vitamin A, and even the risk of some cancerscan be reduced with vitamin A.

And there are more confirmed and suspected benefits.

The other reason we call Vitamin A the glow-in-the-dark vitaminis because it is best known as the bright orange color in so manyfoods we enjoy. Like pumpkins, pumpkin pie and my favorite:pumpkin cheesecake ( see my recipe athttp://www.thehappyguy.com/pumpkin-cheesecake-recipe.html ).

And, of course, carrots, squash, peaches, apricots, cantaloupe,mangoes, sweet potatoes and the rest of the orange-spangledveggie gang.

But again, vitamin A is much more than meets the eye, because itis not actually vitamin A that turns the fruit and vegetablesorange, but a precursor to vitamin A called beta carotene. Betacarotene does not become vitamin A until your body processes it.

And vitamin A is just as likely, if not more so, to come fromprotein sources such as most dairy products, egg yolks and somefish. And the queen of all vitamin A sources is liver, thatancient Egyptian God of sight. Calves liver. Chicken liver.Pork liver. Any liver you can sink your teeth into.

The vitamin A in protein sources is real vitamin A, no processingrequired.
Other great sources of vitamin A are dark green vegetables, suchas Swiss chard, broccoli, spinach and beet greens.

As important as it is to glow with vitamin A, don't glow toobrightly. An overdose can be harmful to bones and skin, causingweakness and brittleness, even leading to fatigue and vomiting.

It is advisable not to take a vitamin A supplement except underthe supervision of a physician. In most cases, it is much betterto take a liquid multivitamin such as Essential Nectar inrecommended daily doses. There is very little chance of getting an overdose that way.

Also, increase your intake of beta carotene sources to avoid anoverdose. Whereas your body absorbs all the vitamin A it takes in directly, it converts only the beta carotene it needs (talk about customization!).

So get glowing and get the vitamin A you need.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

David Leonhardt runs The Liquid Vitamin Supplements Store:
http://www.vitamin-supplements-store.net

The Cure

Gen Cells Cures will find the cure even if it means taking on President George Bush and the Vatican. The cure is definitely goingto be found in stem cell research. When the first cure comes in fromstem stem research it will have a domino effect as incurablediseases will soon vanish fom the world. Needlesss to say it isvery unlikely that any stem cell cure will come from the good old USA.

President Bush has frozen science in time dated back to fouryears ago. We simply are not going to wait for four more years toget started. I also just don't like Big Brother breathing down myneck. He has nothing to offer except red tape, detours androadblocks. Thank God there is a world outside the United States. We have packed our bags and michroscopes and gone offshore. To find thecure we have had to adopt the motto "Have Michroscope Will Travel."Science doesn't have time for politics and religion to catch up.Nor does Gen Cells Cures have time for bureaucratic smoke and mirrors.

The money to find the cure. Where are we going to find it? PresidentBush has the federal piggy bank all locked up for stem cell research. Maybe George Bush is the best man for the presidency. That's what the American people believe. Ok maybe he does a good job, but for our future health he has got to get the Big F.

As the 48 nobel-prize winning scientists have clearly stated to thepresident in a letter, he has compromised our future. Let me spellit out for you, he has shaved 8 years off our lives. Hasn't he given any thought to George and Barbara's future. I know that I worry about the advancing years of my Mom and Dad. What are we going to do? Just put our senior citizens out to pasture. Seniors have justas much right to the cure as the next guy.

I hear people talk aboutthe fact that there is no reason to extend life because there is no room for our seniors because of future over population. Will I disagree. How greedy can you be? I live in a third world country where I see 15 people squeezed into one room. I don't see a problemwith over population. I would be happy to squeeze Mom and Dad into a little room with me if it meant they didn't have to leave this worldso soon .

And what about us, the baby boomers and that includes President George Bush himself. "What If" we get cancer or another deadly incurable disease. Unfortunately for many of us that"whatif" has already become a nightmare of reality. Where does that leave us then? And what about the money needed to do the job? Private research, If you want to go on living the American Dream forget the extra yacht and the private plane. I would rather take a public cruise and fly with Richard Branson's airline than die prematurely from a deadly incurable disease.

Yes I am talking about investing in your own private stem cell research. Private Stem cell research for the wealthy has finally arrived. Gen Cells Cures is the only biotech in the world specializing in stem cell research for wealthy individuals. However, if you are poor and need the cure contact us anyway. One can't do much in this world without money butwe'll try.

Every penny invested at Gen Cell Cures goes into pureresearch. We don't want a beautiful new biomedical researchcenterlike the Stowers Institute from Kansas City. All we want is the cure. We will work anywhere we have to to find the cure. A rentedtin shack will do just fine, but we do need the best people and the best equipment. So if you know a billionaire without a cause, please have this billionaire take a look at what we have to offer with stem cell research.

You can always make another Billion but you can't buyanother life. At Gen Cells Cures we will run for the cure, we will jump for the cure, we will sing with the rock band "The Cure"for the cure, in fact we will jump through hoops for the cure and most important we will work for the cure. We only lack one ingredient to find the cure and that ingredient is the money needed for the stem cell research. What's It all about? …Finding the cure,that's what it's all about. The Cure! The Cure! The Cure!

Article by Gerald Armstrong- scientist0707@y...Gerald is the owner of Gen Cells CuresVisit his group for information about "the cure" forincurablediseases and aging. Group address http://www.msnusers.com/cures

Cancer Articles ( Mesothelioma focus)

Mesothelioma asbestos cancer, or any cancer needs to have the facts revealed. With a series of articles, both factual and inspirational, this blog attempts to provide help to all sufferers.

For mesothelioma sufferers in particular, the site at http://www.mesothelioma-updates.com/ provides daily updated information and news to help all sufferers.

Healing Power of the Mind

Healing Power of the Mind

by Dr. P.C. Simon

copyright 2004

Society's attitude to health and healing is undergoing a drasticchange. Individuals are taking responsibility for their own health,their own cures. In the past, these were matters left to thephysician on an as needed basis. In this century, we strive tomaintain our own health through diet, exercise, and avoidance ofdeleterious life style choices. We have become our own pharmacists. Many of us have turned to nature's pharmacy and take herbal medicinessuch as echinacea for colds, St. John's wort for depression, saw palmetto for benign prostatic enlargement.

We are also beginning torealize the supreme importance of mind in the vital areas of wellnessand disease. Mind is the unlimited pharmacy, the great internalhealer of physical and mental disease and distress. Before 1950, the ability of the mind to cure physical illness wasridiculed by medical men. If anyone mentioned its possibility, theywere considered weird. Nowadays we hear medical practitioners tellingtheir patients how important it is to have a positive attitude toremain healthy.

One of those who helped turn around medical attitudes was Dr. CarlSimonton. In 1971, Dr. Simonton, a radiation oncologist, and hispsychologist wife, Stephanie Mat`hews, began treating terminal cancerpatients for physical, emotional and social ailments holistically inhis career-counseling and research centre in Fort Worth, Texas.Patients were taught to use the mental imagery of white blood cellsdevouring cancer cells in their bodies. The Simontons' friends andcolleagues said that they had lost their minds. However, in 1978,when 159 of their cancer patients were kept alive for more thandouble their life expectancy, people began to pay attention. One oftheir cancer patients also used this system of imagery to treat his impotence and arthritis and found it worked.

In 1974, when Norman Cousins, editor of Saturday Review, returnedfrom a cultural exchange program in Russia, he was hospitalized foradrenal exhaustion due to stress. His sedimentation rate, which isnormally 4 mm/hr, was 115 mm/hr . One day, one of his medicalconsultants wrote on his bedside chart that Cousin's condition wasprecarious. When no one was in his room, Cousins sneaked a look atthe chart and realized his death was near. He recollected thatnegative emotions can produce specific chemicals harmful to the body.Cousins argued if negativity and worry will create sickness, laughterand joy should bring about health. He discharged himself from thehospital and immersed himself in joyful music, jokes and laughter and cured himself in a short while. Readers digest published his story in1977. For the benefit of the rest of the public, he wrote a book entitled "The Anatomy of an Illness."

Medical statistics show that 50 to 80 percent of all diseases such asneuralgia and arthritis are stress related. Stress is created by thought. Thought can cure as well as create disease though mostphysicians have ignored the healing power of thought. By learning to control and direct our thoughts, we can do much to improve our health.

Our minds can be trained to achieve control of our bodies by severalmethods. One of these is biofeedback, a system developed in the late 1960s by neurosurgeons to study neuromuscular diseases and mental states. With monitoring devices, the patient can watch how his/her thoughts affect various body functions. This biofeedback can train patients to alter consciousness, raise or lower blood pressure, andregulate heart beat.

For example, we can increase our blood pressure by just imaginingthat we are in an airplane crash. Suppose that the pilot announced over the intercom that passengers should prepare for a crash landing in the middle of the ocean. We realize that there are not enough life-preservers on board for all the passengers and we, at the rear end of the plane, are the ones left without any support system. By imaginingthe danger we see our pulse rate rising, our blood pressure increasing on the gadgets attached to our body. Then if we begin to imagine that the situation has been corrected and the pilot gives theall clear, we breathe easy. Our blood pressure and pulse rate return to normal.

One simple device used in biofeedback training is called aplethysmograph which will measure the volume of blood accumulating inthe finger tips. We can attach it to our finger and try to pump theblood from the heart into the finger. We will see the plethysmograph will register higher pressure.

Such biofeedback machines will convince us that we have control over our parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems which, till now,we thought belonged to the autonomous system beyond our control. By this method, Dr. Elmer Green and his wife Alice of the Meningerfoundation at Topeka, Kansas, successfully treated migraine, headache and other diseases, which did not respond to regular medicalintervention.

A simple experiment to illustrate the influence of mind on body is toimagine that you are holding a juicy, large, cut lemon in your hand.Imagine that you are squeezing the lemon and trying to suck it. As soon as you think of the lemon juice touching your tongue, whathappens? It is likely that your mouth puckers and you begin to salivate. This is thought acting on the salivary glands.
For another experiment, ask a friend to stretch out his arm and holdit firmly while you try to bend his elbow.

You will find it difficult. A second time, while he holds his arm firmly, let him say about ten times "My arm is weak, my arm is weak, my arm is weak."While he is repeating the words try to bend his elbow. You will see it is now much easier to bend his elbow than it was before. His wordswere conveyed to his brain which influenced his mind and the mind made his arm weak. To get the full benefit out of this article and to convince your subconscious mind that you have the potential , you have to actually do these experiments. Reading alone will not bring the benefit. Actual practice has its own rewards. Please do it now, before you proceed any further.

When blindfolded subjects are told that poison ivy placed on them is a harmless leaf, nothing happens. When harmless leaves are placed andthe subjects are told they are poisonous leaves, the subjects develop weals.

Attitude of mind greatly influences our health. We see many people who prefer to speak of their sicknesses rather than their health. They enjoy explaining how many operations they have had. Theydemonstrate their knowledge of medical vocabulary and talk about their sickness and the drugs they use. Mind is like a magnet. Eachword and each thought attracts associated events, functions, and circumstances. The net result is they continue to be sick. Instead, if they said "I am healthy, happy and joyful", they would attract health and joy unto themselves.

Words we speak affect the body. By telling the child that he looks sick and tired, the mother produces these conditions in his mind and his body. Conversely, we can influence our health, prosperity and environment just by repeating words. It is for this reason that Emile Coue, the French psychotherapist, told his patients to repeat "Everyday in every way, I am getting better, better and better." and they got better. The important thing is to influence the mind.

If we believe that we are healthy, we become healthy. If we believe that we are sick, we become sick. All that we have to do is to convince our mind. The subconscious mind has no discretionary powers; therefore it accepts whatever is fed into it. It is the consciousmind that analyses the facts. With repeated assertions we can fill the subconscious mind with affirmations that we are healthy and happy. This brings about positive results.

Rheder, a German physician, proved that it is mind that cures diseases. He tested a faith healer, who claimed special powers, to cure three of his difficult cases, one suffering from chronic bladder disease, another from pancreatitis, and a third from cancer of the uterus. Rheder asked the faith healer to treat these patients without their knowledge. He supplied the faith healer with information he wanted about the patients.

The faith healer held twelve sessions without bringing about any change in the absentee patients' conditions. Rheder then informed the patients that he was going to enlist the aid of a faith healer who would be able to heal them but this time he did not use any faith healer. Within a few days, all three patients got better. The gall-bladder patient had no more pain and remained without pain for the next one year. The pancreatitis patient left the hospital and gained 30 pounds. The cancer patientexperienced a decrease in the swelling and fluid in the abdomen.

Within five days, she was able to return home from hospital. He proved thereby that it was the mind of the people that cured and notthe power of the healer.

There are many examples of faith cures. On Monday, June 14, 1993, the Oregonian newspaper published a letter written to Ann Landersregarding a cure for warts. Landers published it along with seven letters she had received from those who got rid of warts by various means. One got rid of them by rubbing bacon on the warts and throwing the bacon over the left shoulder when the moon came out. Another did it by applying castor oil. A third took mega-doses of vitamin C. Afourth had success with touch of liquid nitrogen.

A fifth rubbed twenty pennies on the warts and gave the pennies to a beggar and got rid of the warts. A sixth got rid of them by saying, "Hocus-pocus-go-away, warts." A seventh got rid of the warts by applying oozingdandelion sap. The eighth, after spending $250 on a dermatologist,made a $1 bet with her janitor who cut a raw potato in half andrubbed the juice on the warts. She paid the bet on the eleventh day.

All these were mind cures. On February 24, 1992, the Vancouver Sun published an article byNicole Parton, a Vancouver Sun columnist, who related the paincontrol experiences of young children. By using an imaginary magicswitch, they turn off pain. Some mothers show the children howneedles can cause pain. Then they ask the child to imagine tying theneedle and the pain to a balloon and letting it fly away. Whenmothers ask the children what happened to the pain, they will saythat it flew away. These cures were due to imagination.

Mind is the source of health, and disease, happiness and misery,abundance and lack, riches and poverty. As Milton said, it can make ahell out of heaven or a heaven out of hell. Our mind is a microcosm.It creates our universe and that universe can be paradise. All our potential is in our mind, not just the ability to influenceour health. Let me illustrate that point.

Rudyard Kipling, the Indian-born English poet, novelist and NobelPrize winner told the following story.

"When the gods and the earth were new and man had just risen out ofthe slime, he lifted his eyes to heaven and saw the gods upon theirgolden thrones. There was born in him the desire to reach that distant state of bliss and joy. He cried, "O gods in the heaven, let me share your divinity." The gods, when they heard man's cry, went tothe great God Brahma and said to him. "There is a creature who demands a share in our divinity. He is an inquiring and seeking creature who will not rest until he has climbed into this heaven of ours. What shall we do?" "I will speak to him," said Brahma.

"When the gods met again in council they asked Brahma what he had done about man's request. Said Brahma, "I considered wisely and foundthat man's desire to share in our divinity was just, so I said tohim, "Man, I have heard your prayer. The divinity for which you ask shall be yours but you must find it for yourself, for lo, I have hidden it."

"When the gods heard this, they were frightened, but Brahma only smiled and said, "it will be a long time before man finds his divinity, for I have hidden it where he will not think of looking forit." Where have you hidden it?" asked the gods in chorus, "Within man himself," said Brahma softly. And there it is to be found by all who seek, even to this day."

This hidden divinity is our minds. Mind is an infinitesimal part of God in man. Thus, we have the power of God within us. Use it andcreate health, wealth, and prosperity, abundance and a heavenly peace. It is up to us.
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Dr. Simon is a retired research microbiologist, philanthropist,philosopher, and author. Among his publications is the Missing Pieceto Paradise and The Philosopher's Notebook.http://www.buymybook.com/buy/authorinfo.asp?id=1572X1802Y1
Visit his website at http://www.interchange.ubc.ca/psimon/book2.htm